Board independence and firm performance in India

摘要

Corporate governance guidelines all over the globe are focusing on adding independent directors to the board to improve board effectiveness. Does the addition of more number of independent directors improve firm performance? The extant literature does not give a unanimous answer. In the given background, the present work explores the impact of board independence on firm performance for the emerging Indian market. The study examines Nifty firms over a period of six years from 2005-2010 using panel regression. The results show board independence to have positive impact on Tobin's Q, the proxy for firm value. The study found no direct impact of board independence on operating performance.